Hand of the Gods Release Patch Notes

Hand of the Gods is fully releasing on February 20th, 2018! Here are the patch notes for this major patch/update.

After over a year and a half of active development, Hand of the Gods is officially releasing! February 20, 2018 will mark the end of our beta testing phase on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 as Hand of the Gods undergoes its full release.

WHAT’S NEW

With Hand of the Gods’ release, new card bundles can be now be purchased to gain immediate access to entire sets of cards!

Pantheon Core Sets

Players can now unlock all cards in each Pantheon with our new Pantheon Core Sets! Pantheon Core Sets can be purchased for 400 Runes each, or 600 for the Neutral set, and grant immediate access to all cards within the respective Pantheon. This means that you will receive 2 copies of the Common, Rare, and Epic cards, as well as 1 copy of the Legendary cards from the purchased Pantheon. To see which cards are included in each Pantheon Core Set, see our post here.

Chinese Pantheon Core Set (55 Total Cards)

Egyptian Pantheon Core Set (44 Total Cards)

Greek Pantheon Core Set (57 Total Cards)

Mayan Pantheon Core Set (41 Total Cards)

Hindu Pantheon Core Set (48 Total Cards)

Norse Pantheon Core Set (47 Total Cards)

Roman Pantheon Core (55 Total Cards)

Neutral Pantheon Core Set (88 Total Cards)

Core Set Bundle

With the release of Hand of the Gods, the Founder’s Pack will be replaced in the store with our new Core Set Bundle. The Core Set Bundle combines the Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Mayan, and Neutral Pantheon Core Sets (a total of 285 cards) for only a $19.99 direct purchase!

Cosmetic Pack

Cosmetic Packs are now available in the Store for purchase in exchange for 4,000 Favor or 50 Runes. Each purchase of a Cosmetic Pack will award the player with one of 100 items, including Card Backs, Avatar Icons, and Skins. Among those that already existed within Hand of the Gods, a number of brand new items will be added to the Cosmetic Pack for players to unlock:

Card Backs

Pirate Card Back

Avatars

Bakasura

Thor

Agni

Ah Puch

Ah Muzen Cab

Anhur

Anubis

Ao Kuang

Aphrodite

Apollo

Arachne

Ares

Artemis

Athena

Awilix

Bacchus

Bastet

Bellona

Cabrakan

Chaac

Chang’e

Chronos

Cupid

Fenrir

Freya

Geb

Guan Yu

Hades

He Bo

Hel

Hercules

Hou Yi

Hun Batz

Isis

Janus

Jing Wei

Kali

Khepri

Kukulkan

Kumbhakarna

Loki

Medusa

Mercury

Ne Zha

Neith

Nemesis

Nox

Nu Wa

Odin

Osiris

Poseidon

Rama

Ratatoskr

Ravana

Scylla

Serqet

Skadi

Sobek

Sol

Sun WuKong

Sylvanus

Ymir

Zeus

Zhong Kui

Pirate Skins

Dreadbeard Poseidon

Skaliwag Kali

High Seas Sobek

Vulcap’n Redbeard Vulcan

Gold Pack

Gold Packs have now also been added to the store and can be purchased in exchange for 150 Favor or 50 Runes. Each pack will award the player with one random Golden version of a card within the Core Set.

Core Pack

The Core Pack will still remain within the Store and can be purchased in exchange for 300 Favor! These packs will still have a chance to drop Golden Cards, but no longer contain Leader skins.

Achievements

You’ll now be able to unlock achievements to commemorate your accomplishments on the battlefield! This includes over 40 Achievements/Trophies for players to unlock through gameplay on Steam, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

Apotheosis

Novice – Play 10 Matches

Intermediate – Play 50 Matches

Adept – Play 100 Matches

Master – Play 200 Matches

Domination

Novice – Win 10 Matches

Intermediate – Win 50 Matches

Adept – Win 100 Matches

Master – Win 200 Matches

All that Glitters

Novice – Open 10 Gold Card Packs

Intermediate – Open 50 Gold Card Packs

Adept – Open 100 Gold Card Packs

Master – Open 200 Gold Card Packs

Massacre

Novice – Kill 10 Units

Intermediate – Kill 50 Units

Adept – Kill 100 Units

Master – Kill 200 Units

Arcane Magnificence

Novice – Play 10 Spell Cards

Intermediate – Play 50 Spell Cards

Adept – Play 100 Spell Cards

Master – Play 200 Spell Cards

Divine Spawner

Novice – Spawn or Deploy 10 God Cards

Intermediate – Spawn or Deploy 50 God Cards

Adept – Spawn or Deploy 100 God Cards

Master – Spawn or Deploy 200 God Cards

Olympian

Win 50 matches with Zeus

For Valhalla

Win 50 matches with Odin

Praise the Sun

Win 50 matches with Ra

Guardian of the Heavens

Win 50 Matches with Nu Wa

Roma Invicta

Win 50 matches with Bellona

Death Touch

Win 50 matches with Ah Puch

Escaped the Cycle

Win 50 matches with Ganesha

Run the Gauntlet

Play 50 Gauntlet Matches

Overwhelming Force

Win a game by turn 5

Unbreakable

Win a game with your Summoning Stone at 25 or more Health.

Leave No Survivors

Win with no opponent units remaining on the battlefield

Stone Breaker

Deal 1000 damage to Summoning Stones

Uncontrolled Power

Deal 50 damage in a single match

The Hunter

Kill 100 Beasts

Pick a card, any card

Discover 50 Cards

Bank Heist

Acquire a gold card in your hand that is owned by your opponent

Grand Champion

Retire an arena run with 12 wins and 0 losses

The Long Journey

Complete 25 quests

Paper Cut

Open 50 Packs

The God Hand (PlayStation 4 Exclusive)

Acquire all Trophies!

Updated Card Art

Armaments

Armored Behemoth

Baboon

Blade Forge

Bludgeon

Canopic Jar

Carrier Behemoth

Chieftain

Clay Soldier

Gallus

Hyena

Insight

The Kraken!

Nacom Warrior

Occult Deadeye

Pharaoh’s Health

Pillar of Creation

Satyr Pathfinder

Sacred Warrior

Thracian

Tomb Warden

Venator

War Behemoth

GAMEPLAY UPDATES

Versus Mode

The Casual and Ranked Queues have now been replaced by the new Versus Mode, which will allow players to climb the ranks through constructed deck play.

Ranks will be provided to players and will reset on two-month “season” cycles. At the end of each season, players will be rewarded based on the rank they have reached during that season:

Players who reach ranks 2-20 will receive:

450 Favor

1 Gold Card Pack

Players who reach rank 1 will receive:

600 Favor

2 Gold Card Packs

Exclusive Card Back (this will change with each season)

A new leaderboard has been implemented, which will display the ranks, names, and wins/losses of players! You will be able to see your own rank, as well as the top 50 players with the highest MMR.

Challenge Mode

The ability to challenge your friends has now been streamlined in the form of a new queue.

Quests, Leader Level advancement, and Achievement progress can now be obtained from Challenge Matches.

Gauntlets

Gauntlets will now operate on a daily cycle, with one Gauntlet mode available to all players per day.

Avatar rewards will remain unique to completing these Gauntlets (they cannot be obtained from the Cosmetic Pack)

One exception: The Sharing is Caring Gauntlet has been removed and the Cutesy Ah Muzen Cab Avatar will now be available within the Cosmetic Pack.

Rotating Gauntlet Modes:

Triple Threat

Map includes only three rows of playable tiles. All normal decks are allowed.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Neith Avatar

3 Core Packs

150 Favor

Spell Lock

Decks can not contain any Spell Cards.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Sol Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Mortality

Players can only use decks that include only cards from the Neutral Pantheon.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Medusa Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Pantheon Wars (Greek and Roman)

Players can only queue with decks that have ALL Greek or Roman Cards. All other pantheons are not allowed in this queue, nor are neutral cards.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Arachne

3 Core Packs

150 Favor

Overflow

Players have 10 mana every turn.

5 Wins Rewards

Thanatoast Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Time Shift

Player turns last 30 seconds.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Fafnir Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Pauper

Players can only create decks that are comprised of Free and Common Cards.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Chang’e Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Pantheon Wars (Egyptian and Chinese)

Players can only queue with Egyptian or Chinese decks. This means that all other pantheons are not allowed in this queue

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Bastet Avatar

3 Core Packs

150 Favor Rewards

Entrenched

The map contains two rock formations that block unit movement.

5 Wins Rewards

Chef’s Special Avatar

3 Core Packs

150 Favor

Grand Melee

Players can only queue with decks that have Spells and Melee Units. No Ranged units are allowed.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Thor Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Pantheon Wars (Mayan and Hindu)

Players can only queue with decks that have ALL Hindu or Mayan Cards. All other pantheons are not allowed in this queue, nor are neutral cards.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Scylla Avatar

3 Core Packs

150 Favor

Colossal

Decks can only include cards that cost 5 or more. Players start with 5 mana.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Merdusa Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Marksmanship

Players can only queue with decks that have Spells and Ranged units. No Melee units are allowed.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Izanami Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Prodigal

Players can only create decks that contain Rare, Epic, and Legendary Cards. This means that no Free or Common cards can be used.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Freya Avatar

3 Core Packs

150 Favor

Highlander

Players can only have one copy per card in their deck.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Zhong Kui Avatar

3 Core Packs

150 Favor

Divine Battle

Decks must contain at least 10 God Cards from Norse, Greek, or Mayan. Players can only queue with Norse, Greek, or Mayan decks but they must contain at least 10 Gods.

5 Wins Rewards

Cutesy Skadi Avatar

2 Core Packs

100 Favor

Only decks created from your collection and meeting the deck requirements will be eligible for use in the Gauntlet. This must be done before entering the queue.

You will no longer be locked out of the Gauntlet following a loss, but your win counter will be reset back to 0.

Rewards will be granted to players who achieve 5 wins in a row.

After a player has won a specific Gauntlet type, they will not be able to enter that same Gauntlet again until the daily cooldown resets at 5:00 AM EST.

GENERAL

The amount of Deck Slots available for players has been doubled from 8 to 16. This will allow players to keep a diverse set of decks for climbing the ranks within Versus mode, as well as crafting creative decks for the various Gauntlet modes!

The Founder’s Pack has been removed from the store and replaced with the Core Set Bundle!

Tooltips will now appear when hovering over Card Backs and Avatars to explain how and where they can be unlocked.

Matchmaking has been improved for better pairing of players of similar Ranks in the new Versus game mode.

When creating a deck, the Leader Skin selection screen has been made larger to allow players to more easily see which skin is being chosen prior to selecting cards.

Players that have bought Runes will receive bonus Runes to return their total to the amount purchased during the Beta. These players will also keep all content purchased with their Runes!

Clans have been removed from the game.

Clans were introduced to PC early on in our Beta, but never reached a point where they added to the Hand of the Gods gameplay experience. Subsequently, we have removed this feature from the PC version of the game and will not being introducing it to the console version of the game.

Ranks are being reset with the Release Patch, awarding players based on the Rank they reached during this second Beta season:

Players who reached ranks 11-25 will receive:

100 Dust

300 Favor

Thor Avatar

Players who reached ranks 1-10 will receive:

200 Dust

600 Favor

Thor Avatar

Ranked 2017 Avatar

FX POLISH AND UPDATES

Dozens of FX updates have been implemented with the release patch, including some that allow easier visualization of game mechanics, those that better represent cards’ effects, and polish to some existing FX:

Game FX

Fatigue Damage

When attempting to draw a card when you deck is empty, a new effect will appear on your Summoning Stone to better indicate that you have taken Fatigue Damage.

Overdraw

When you attempt to add cards to your hand after you have 10 cards in hand, a burning effect will now occur on the lost card to better indicate that the card has been lost to the graveyard.

Victory and Defeat screens

The end of match Victory and Defeat screens have been updated to allow for smoother transitions. This update will also minimize visual popping.

End of Turn Timer

The End Turn Timer bar has been updated to include color for better visibility and has been stylized for cohesion to overall thematics.

Spell FX

Mana Potion

Crescent Blade

Unit FX

Agni

Ao Kuang

Aphrodite

Apollo

Ares

Arges

Baboon

Brute

Bull Demon King

Chang’e

Chaos Spawn

Chieftain

Cursed Hunter

Cursed Warrior

Decrepit Bowman

Doomspeaker

Dune Guardian

Elder Harpy

Fanwei

Fire Giant

Fire Imp

Fury

Geb

Gladiator

Guan Yu

Hades

Hercules

Hou Yi

Imperial Archer

Imperial Guard

Imperial Soldier

Isis

Kaldr

Kang

Marksman

Mercury

Nacom Warrior

Nemean Lion

Oogway

Ravana

Sacred Warrior

Scion of Doom

Serqet

Spartan

Steropes

Stone Guardian

Surtur

Tomb Warden

Thor

White Tiger

BALANCE

With the full release of Hand of the Gods, balance will continue to be monitored and adjusted as needed over the next few weeks as we evaluate Pantheon performances. The Hindu pantheon will also be receiving an adjustment to one of their core mechanics, Reincarnate.

Reincarnate (Mechanic)

When this unit or spell would go to your graveyard, shuffle it into your deck. It loses Reincarnate.

“The change to Reincarnate is being made to create a more balanced and enjoyable experience for players while maintaining the key characteristic that made the mechanic unique. With the card going into your deck instead of hand, players no longer have immediate access to an upgraded card making these cards much easier to deal with while also adding value to cards that discover cards in your deck.” — Austin Gallman, lead designer of Hand of the Gods.

Card Balance

Awilix (Mayan)

Now spawns a Zombie adjacently after defeating an enemy unit.

Bacchus (Roman)

Attack reduced from 3 to 2.

Crippling Curse (Norse)

Mana cost increased from 2 to 3.

Discordia (Roman)

Mana cost increased from 4 to 5.

Gladiator (Neutral)

Attack reduced from 4 to 3

Power Delve (Roman)

Now reduces cost of Discovered card by 7.

Raise the Grave (Mayan)

Mana cost reduced from 4 to 3.

Ratatoskr (Norse)

Health reduced from 3 to 2.

Reincarnated Agni

Mana cost reduced from 6 to 4.

War Behemoth (Neutral)

Health reduced from 6 to 5

BUG FIXES

Updated card text on some recently reworked cards for the Spanish version of the game.

Fixed an issue with Recursive Vitality not returning for the rest of the game once you reach a full hand (10 cards).